Regarding removing/deleting profiles. If you are the sole manager of a profile there can be no harm in removing it. However, if there is even just one other manager involved deleting that profile is not acceptable without collaboration and discussion with the other managers.
Regarding the standardisation of names - because I own up to being the Curator you are referring to Andrew - I made the names in the first generation, born between 1750 and 1765 - the same according to your own recommendation of the spelling and based on some documents available. It is impossible to standardise names of people from the early years because there appears to be no consistency in the spelling in early documents. If there are various spellings of a name used these need to be added to the AKA field and if possible displayed in a Curator's note. The chosen/preferred spelling of a name only happened later where variations even within a family are found.
You are free to edit the names to the spelling you prefer where you know that the name was spelt in that way for that family - in fact you should do so. A note in the "about" section explaining reasons would be good, or you could ask a Curator to make a Curator note or even lock the name field.
Searches are notoriously difficult at times - if I am having difficulty locating someone I try the various known spellings, look in my lists and activity log to locate them. If you start typing a name in the search box it usually presents a drop down list of profiles you have recently worked on etc.
